WIDE-EYED AND CROOKED-FACED - DETERMINANTS OF PERCEIVED AND REAL HONESTY ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN

Structural qualifies of honest-looking faces, developmental relationsh ips between perceived and real honesty, and actual honesty of honest-l ooking people were investigated. Babyfaceness, attractiveness, facial symmetry, and large eyes each had positive, independent effects on per ceived honesty revealing a babyface overgeneralization effect, an attr activeness halo effect, and the metaphorical associations ''wide-eyed innocence'' and ''crooked character.'' Consistent with a self-fulfilli ng prophecy, men who looked more honest early in life became more hone st later, particularly when appearance was stable. Women showed an ''a rtifice'' effect: Those less hottest early in life became more hottest -looking later Differential accuracy in perceiving honesty in men and women accompanied these developmental effects. Honesty was accurately read in men whose early appearance of honesty was stable. Honesty was incorrectly read in women whose early real honesty was stable When the se individual differences were ignored, real and perceived honesty wer e unrelated.